


Hankering

by Missy



Category: Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Western, Developing Relationship, Historical, Humor, Multi, Polyamory, Shipoween 2020 - The Halloween Ship Exchange, Shipoween: General
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:02:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27277681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: Miss Belle comes to town looking for an old lover - and the rose gold he promised her.  She doesn't expect to meet saloon owner Gasty - or learn just what Beast has been up to for the past few months...
Relationships: Beast/Belle/Gaston (Disney)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6
Collections: Shipoween 2020 - The Halloween Ship Exchange!





	Hankering

**Author's Note:**

  * For [captainellie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainellie/gifts).



_This town is an awful quiet little village,_ Belle thought to herself as she disembarked from the stage. Usually when she’d been off hunting fugitives – especially fugitives she used to date – she ended up in wild, wooly outposts filled with tobacco-spitting vagrants. But this place looked like a quiet little town filled with small children and respectable matrons. 

Not the place she’d expected Beast to end up in.

When she’d known him, he was a roamer. From town to town he went, mostly acting in his own best interest, though occasionally helping a downtrodden person if he saw fit. That was not Belle’s way. She was too invested in the human condition, and stopped to help whoever she could along the way. 

Well, contemplating his nature wasn’t going to get her her man. She wandered into the smoke-filled saloon, which was a familiar sight on a night like this, mostly because she knew there had to be a meal inside waiting for her.

The fella behind the bar was tending it with broad swipes of a cloth, entertaining the audience with a booming baritone and stories of his grand physical exploits.

“…And if you have any itches to scratch, why, my girls are always ready and willing…for a price that is.”

Three identical blondes waved their handkerchiefs from the corner of the room, winking at the fellows as they fled to his coterie of blondes. He smiled at Belle over the top of the bar as she took their place.

“Why hello, pretty young thing. Name’s Gasty. Are you looking for a drink.”

“A drink and a fella.” While he poured her a beer, she reached into her back pocket, withdrawing and then unfolding a wanted poster upon the tacky bar. “Have you seen this man?”

Gasty took a look at the paper and smirked. “Well. Yes. As a matter of fact I did…last night.”

Belle raised an eyebrow. “And you wouldn’t know where he is now?”

“Well, no,” he said. “Took off in the morning and didn’t have the decency to stick around for more pillow talk. I’ve been with him on and off for the last two months. I figured my natural beauty was keeping him in town.”

Gasty’s expression suggested that he absolutely believed that this was the truth.

Beast came through the front door of the saloon, and when Belle glanced over her shoulder, she saw that his ears had gone red, eyes focused upon her. She looked back at Gasty, who had eyes only for Beast in return.

Belle couldn’t stop herself from teasing him. “Really, Beast,” she smiled, as he tugged his hat down over his long blond hair. “I didn’t know you had it in you – settling down.” She beamed at Gaston with syrupy sweetness. “Especially with a fine fellow like Gasty here.”

“You’re not supposed to be in this town, Belle,” glowered Beast. He deliberately sat at the other end of the bar and glared at her.

“But I am here, and you owe me twelve pounds in rose gold. And I do know that you need to be at the bank to settle that claim on the land you had down from your Pa. Means you gotta turn yourself in to the sheriff for that little brawl you started in my father’s bar.” She leaned across the way and stared at him. “How’re we going to settle this? Are you gonna come with me or him? Or is it gonna be twelve paces at dawn?” she asked Beast. 

He glowered at her. Gasty just smiled up at him, eyes mocking, as he sent a beer in his direction.

Beast caught it and tipped it back, letting the booze slide down his throat as he sighed and placed his hand on Belle’s.

She placed a hand on Gasty’s. 

They could work this out.

She hoped.


End file.
